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Monday, May 10, 2010

Fusilli with Walnuts and Garlic Sauce - Blue Monday

Oregon Coast

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...When a chef with the stature of Mario Batali embraces a trend you know it has become mainstream. Last week he announced his decision to observe Meatless Monday in all of his 14 restaurants. He plans to have at least two meatless entrees on his menus every Monday. You can read more about his decision here. I am also embracing the trend and will try to prepare a meatless meal each week. That may be easier said than done. Like many of you, I am married to a committed carnivore who will not easily adapt to the notion. We are going to try anyway. I've started to round up recipes that are new and interesting, but meatless. Good recipes will go a long way to make the transition painless. So will ear plugs. The first of the recipes is an old one I've resurrected from Patricia Wells' book, Trattoria. It's easy to make, uses a handful of readily available ingredients and is absolutely delicious if it is served hot. Garlic lovers should be cautious and use no more than is called for in the recipe. Excess garlic will overpower the subtle flavor of the walnuts and the dish will lose it clean flavor. Experience is a great teacher. The recipe also calls for heavy cream. You can substitute a lower fat alternative, but go no further back than whole milk. If you serve this as an entree, you'll also want to serve a large salad and a crusty peasant bread. I went with an arugula and orange salad that nicely balanced the creamy walnut sauce that dressed the pasta. Here's the recipe for a simple but tasty meatless pasta.Fusilli with Walnut and Garlic Sauce...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Patrica Well WellsIngredients:2 large cloves garlic, mincedKosher salt1 cup toasted walnut halves1 cup heavy cream12-ounces dried fusilli1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeseCoarsely cracked black pepper to tasteDirections:1) Place garlic, a pinch of salt and walnuts in bowl of a food processor. Process until nuts are coarsely ground. Add cream and process to form a fairly smooth sauce with flecks of walnuts in it. Add salt and pepper to taste.2) Bring 6 quarts of water to a rolling boil. Add 3 tablespoons of salt and fusilli. Cook until pasta is tender but firm to the bite.3) While pasta cooks, heat sauce in a microwave or stovetop until warm.4) Drain pasta. Transfer to a serving bowl and toss to combine. Add cheese and again toss to combine. Add salt ans pepper to taste. Serve Immediately. Yield: 4 -5 servings.

I love walnut sauce for pasta. And I am meatless every Monday (and every other day, as a matter of fact, hehehe). I heard that many US restaurants are proposing a meatless Monday, to save resources. What a great idea :-)

I just found a stash of walnuts... recipe sounds great... maybe we should all blog meatless mondays... this is a delicious way to start.. how bad can walnuts and cream be for a carnivore.. you have one lucky husband!!

MaryThis pasta dish sounds lovely; walnuts and cheese make a great combo; So Mario Batali is going vegan on Mondays? Well good for him; I don't find it at all hard to avoid meat, lebanese cuisine is replete with vegan recipes!

As a "meatless 4 nights a week" cook, I appreciate your offerings Mary. This is an interesting recipe. My roots are southern Italian, so I'm not so well versed in cream sauces. BTW, I tried your strawberry yogurt pie. It was great. Thanks for the suggestion.

What a lovely pasta dish! And wow, Meatless Mondays is really catching on! I don't adhere to it myself, but I find that I usually have at least one or two meat-free days a week as it is. I think I actually accidentally went meatless for a whole week once: it wasn't on purpose, I just happened to choose meatless recipes. I was kind of craving steak after that, though!

Thanks Mary, I need more recipes like this. I, too, am trying to reduce our consumption of meat. I do have a number of meatless dishes that are quite good. One of them is a tweaked macaroni and cheese (pasta quatro fromage). Growing up in the south, macaroni and cheese was (still is in many places) considered a side dish. I'm thinking "meatless Monday" would be a good choice for us.

Going meatless once a week is a fabulous idea and I would love to do it. Like you, I am married to a carnivore who thinks that every meal must contain a huge portion of meat. This pasta sounds fantastic!

This looks fabulous! I do a meatless meal at least twice a week, and have found that a few great vegetarian cookbooks help keep me motivated. Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian is my current favorite. Thanks, also, for visiting my blog!

Hello my friend, I hope you had a nice mother's day . This is a wonderful sauce I always make but I serve it with linguini instead.Eating meatless food, is healthy and tasty and I truely enjoy eating them. The Lebanese Cuisine full of wonderful meatless meals which we all love and enjoy eating.I am married to a meat and potato guy but he is changing..

one word to remember our body needs 30 days to get rid of big meat meal, so imagine how much time we need for cleansing.

Sounds like a great recipe. I always go meatless so this one is perfect for my collection. Walnuts are good for us all as well as garlic. Hmmm....getting hungry just thinking of it.Fondly,Ann@The Tattered Tassel

I want to write about Mario Batalli, next week when I post the next Meatless Mondays but since you have done such a great job, could I ask you to please post this great recipe on my blog, Meatless Mondays. Thanks for considering it.

I'm a new follower. I'm also married to a carnivore. I do cook pasta dishes but within a few hours he is back in the fridge because in his mind he did not have a complete meal because it was meatless. I will come back to check your new meatless recipes. Thanks for sharing! Happy Blue Monday!

Wow I just visited your blog and read the comment about meatless Mondays. I just wrote that in my blog entry for yesterday! Enjoyed your blog and will back to visit often, I will be following you! Thank you for your kind remarks on my blog. I would love to do more meatless days but the spouse does need meat every now and then.

We try and eat meatless at least one day a week. Not always Monday's :). My husband is one of those who doesn't think it's a meal unless it has meat. Often I will make something and he will say, this would be so good with some type of meat. He's slowly getting used to it.

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